Brazilians celebrate independent day

Rio de Janeiro saw its Brazilian citizens celebrating the Independence Day of the country by heading to the beach in droves.

The scenes of crowds over the weekend come as Brazil tries to cope with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

According to John Hopkins University, the country currently has the world’s third highest number of confirmed cases with 4,137,521, as well as having suffered 126,650 virus-related deaths.

There is concern that a recent downward trend in daily new cases could be reversed if social distancing rules are not followed.